


Rebirthday

by autumnstwilight (sewohayami)



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: But mostly fluff, F/M, Mild Angst, Selectively Mute Link, Sweet Fluff, Zelink Week 2018, and cake, botwfirstanniversary, what has happened to me lately?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 01:32:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13847238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sewohayami/pseuds/autumnstwilight
Summary: One year after Link's awakening in the Shrine of Resurrection, and more than half a year after the fall of Calamity Ganon, a traveling princess and her knight return to the ruins of Hyrule Castle.(Happy first anniversary to my favorite game ever!)





	Rebirthday

A light rain fell on the ruins of Hyrule Castle, the sunlight glinting off the water as it dripped from gutters and ran down the walls. Since the banishing of the Great Calamity, the ruins had stood through late-summer storms, autumn sleet, winter snowfalls, and now the gentle warmth of spring had returned.

Once again, Link made his way through the rubble, down battered paths and over crumbling walls to the Sanctum. His scars still ached, as he pulled himself onto a rampart, feet scrabbling on wet stone, but he had almost entirely regained his strength. At the highest reaches of the castle, the Sanctum lay bare and empty before him. The skies above were patched with blue and white, the wind and rain had washed away the grime of a century of Malice from the grey stone. There were no signs of what had caused people to abandon this place. A naive observer might think they had simply left.

The breeze was fresh and cool on his face, and he looked out over the vastness of Hyrule, Death Mountain glowing red in the north, the great shadow of Mount Lanayru to the west, the pillar of stone that marked the Rito hometown in the east, and to the south of that, the ridge of the Gerudo Highlands. Each corner of the land held memories and connections for him, formed in his wanderings, and a peace passed through him. Everything was imperfect and bittersweet, and that was why it was beautiful. The kingdom seemed to breathe with him, the silent thrill of being alive.

He pulled a small loaf of bread out of his pouch, along with a hunk of salted meat, and began to eat, legs dangling over the edge of the gaping hole in the floor. Perhaps it was a strange choice of location for his simple meal. If so, then let it be. As he ate, he remembered the swirling darkness last time he had been here, the pulsing, throbbing rot of the Malice clinging to the walls, forming a sick cradle in which to nurture its master.

“You put up a good fight,” he said, and then started a little at the sound of his own voice, rarely heard as it was.

Despite the suffering the creature known as Ganon had caused to him and everyone else he had met, hatred was difficult. Link had once encountered a wild boar in the forest, blood and pus leaking from where the broken spearhead pierced its ribs. He had seen the fury in its eyes as it charged and he put it down with a blow from his sword. He couldn’t help but feel, if the Calamity truly once had been a man, that it was much the same thing. He saw the flayed and rotting skull in feverish dreams, heard the unearthly roar, and wondered if there was anything a single person could do that _deserved_ ten thousand years of imprisonment. But the question of what was deserved was long past. Sword in hand, Link had done what he could.

He finished his food, and rose to his feet. For a moment, he bowed his head in remembrance of the souls lost here. With a last glance, he prepared to head back down into the lower floors of the castle.

The princess had not followed him to the Sanctum. He could hardly blame her, aside from the difficulty of traversing the ruins, one hundred years was quite enough for anyone to spend there in one lifetime. In the months since, she had spoken little of her semi-voluntary imprisonment in the castle. He hadn’t attempted to pry it out of her.

They had traveled far and wide, just the two of them, like an echo of the past. At each village and settlement, they stopped as Princess Zelda introduced herself, and consulted with the local authorities on what they needed, what their concerns were, and how they saw Hyrule going forward. She had not taken the role of Queen yet, hoping that she could foster greater cooperation and stability between the scattered pockets of civilization before reviving the kingdom. Everything would go more smoothly if people naturally came to see themselves as part of a whole.

She was frightened, she had confessed to him, frightened that she wouldn’t do well enough. After a century of isolation, human contact was strange to her, being the center of attention almost unbearable. Despite that, he thought, she was lovely, and endeared herself to people wherever she went. He was sure that she would make a great queen, when she was ready. But he did not push the matter.

The sunlight streamed through the broken wall of Princess Zelda’s study, but it was silent and empty. A selection of books had been taken, a fallen scrap of paper suggesting a hurried retreat. Her bedroom was in a similar condition. Neither was she in the library, though some effort had been made to move books away from the broken wall that exposed them to the elements. The gatehouses were abandoned. Strangely, the dust in the Royal Guard’s chambers had been recently disturbed, although there was no sign of her there either. He furrowed his brow, beginning to worry a little. He had been sure that he had eliminated all the monsters here the first time around, certainly, he had seen no sign of them today. And yet, the chance that he was wrong sent adrenaline rushing through his veins.

The Observation Room yielded no sign of the princess either, even when he looked out the windows to check that she was not waiting for him by the entrance. He swore quietly, more of a hiss than a properly enunciated word. He hoped that she was somewhere safe and staying put. Otherwise they could both wander the inside of the castle for days and not cross paths.

The creak of timber made him look up, but it was merely a crow taking flight from a broken ceiling beam. Its distorted shadow flickered across the floor. He hurried back into the hall, wondering where to look next. It seemed unlikely that the princess would venture down into the lockup, that winding corridor of prison cells in the depths of the castle. Perhaps she had tried to enter the underground Sheikah laboratory, but as far as he knew that was inaccessible, unless one was unfortunate enough to fall through the hole in the Sanctum.

A familiar and sweet scent wafted to him, one that he couldn’t quite place. It was not quite that of baking bread, but carried a hint of fruit… He paused, his mind caught in almost-remembrance, another corridor, another meal being prepared. Then he shook off the past and moved forward.

On top of the sweetness and the scent of baking came a faintly bitter note, that of something charred. His nose had located it now, and he pushed open the heavy door at the far end of the dining room. Sure enough, the princess was there, crouched over the cooking pot with a look of concentration, muttering some indistinct but certainly irritable words. Wrapping the remains of a curtain around her hands, she took a smaller, lidded pot from the heavy cast iron pan, and tipped the contents onto a waiting plate. A cake, topped with apple wedges, slid inelegantly out of the pot. The princess gave the pot an impatient thump and several more slices of apple slopped onto the cake, giving off a hint of cinnamon. Despite the appearance, the scent was quite appealing. Taking a knife, the princess inexpertly trimmed off part of the edge that had begun to burn, and nudged the apple wedges back into a roughly circular arrangement. She did not notice him approaching.

“Link!” she yelped, and the knife clattered onto the table, spattering syrupy fruit juice across the table cloth. He took a step back, hands raised in what he hoped was a disarming gesture. The princess took a deep breath, as though she were trying to calm herself, and reached for the knife she had dropped.

“Goodness, you scared me…”

He gave her a stern look, one that might have communicated that _she_ had frightened _him_ by wandering all the way across the castle without a word, but he wasn’t very good at stern looks and his expression softened after only a moment. His gaze drifted to the fresh cake, once again noticing that it did smell very good.

“I was in the Royal Guard’s chambers,” she spoke after a moment, still prodding at the cake, scooping up an apple slice that was sliding off the edge. “I looked for your military records, but… whole sections of the archives have been destroyed, mildewed, used by the monsters as kindling… I wasn’t able to find any information about you back then.” Her eyes met his. “I’m sorry.”

Link looked back at her in surprise. Certainly, he’d never asked her to do this. He’d accepted it, as much as he could, that everything that happened before was a past life, one of which only glimpses remained. He was a different person now, and not entirely sure that he wanted his old self back, if it meant changing the him that had existed for the past year. He was real, whoever he was.

“Anyway…” She paused to suck on her finger for a moment where it had gotten covered with sticky fruit syrup, and began cutting into the cake. “Today is… It’s been one year, exactly, since I woke you. I remember. The third day of spring. And… since I couldn’t find… since I don’t know… when your birthday is. I…”

She slid the flat of the knife under a slice of cake, and held it out. He picked it up carefully between two fingers, cupping one hand underneath to prevent it from crumbling, blowing on it where there was still steam rising from the top.

“Happy Birthday, Link.”

Words didn't come to him easily, but he spoke them anyway. Taking a breath, he steadied his gaze to meet her eyes.

"...Thank you. Zelda."

Then she smiled and it really was like the sun. He looked down at the cake in his hand before shoving the entire slice into his mouth, a habit of eating on the run he’d never quite broken. For what was presumably a first attempt at a cake, it was quite well done, the fruit simmered to a soft sweetness, the batter light and fluffy all the way through. His hand hovered over the remainder of the cake, fingers wriggling as if asking for permission. The princess laughed.

“Yes, go on. It’s for you, after all.”

He needed no further encouragement. The princess took a seat at the great dining table, and he took the place next to her, and another bite of cake. Cautiously, she reached for a slice of her own.

“It’s certainly fortunate that the cookery section of the library did not meet the same fate as the archives.”

Mouth full, he nodded his wholehearted agreement.

“You know… I was nervous about returning here, but… I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Of course, I remember how this place was… I always will. But today, I can’t stop thinking about how we can rebuild it all. What I’m going to add. What I’m going to do differently. How grand it will be when we can call this place the center of our kingdom once more.”

His fingers entwined with hers under the table.

“You’ll stay with me, won’t you?” He squeezed her hand in response, and she blushed before continuing hurriedly and in a somewhat higher pitch, “I think we should head north first, secure a supply of stone from the quarries in Eldin. Of course, it will take them a while to accelerate production, perhaps a season or two. In the meantime, we need to find workers. Perhaps some of the smaller settlements can be persuaded to relocate to the old Castle Town…”

She was absorbed in her planning now, her sharp mind working on the details and intricacies that she handled best. Link settled back into his chair and took another slice of cake as she spoke. This was his reason. The present spread out around him, a sweet and comforting moment that filled the hall, and he could not wish for anything else.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I've had this idea for months but naturally I procrastinated to the point where I'm finishing it just after midnight. It's March 3rd here now.
> 
> I did actually research what kind of cakes could conceivably be made in a cooking pot/over an open fire, and the consensus from camping enthusiasts seems to be that it's best to go with something like an upside down cake where a layer of fruit takes most of the direct heat. Also you sort of need a smaller pot to serve as a cake mold. I didn't actually test this but hopefully the cake described is plausible. (I even checked to see if apples would be available in early spring- tl;dr late autumn and winter varieties could probably be stored in a cool cellar for that long also get off wikipedia and write your fic).
> 
> Timeline wise- some people have suggested that Link takes a year between waking up and rescuing Zelda. Apart from the fact that it wouldn't work for this fic, I don't headcanon Link as a completionist. I think he'd free the Beasts, find his memories, do whatever shrines he came across, get the sword and save Zelda as soon as possible after that. That kind of playthrough of BoTW takes 40 hours or so, an in-game day is 24 minutes, so 100 days... Add in a bit more time for sleeping and I'd guess 4-6 months between waking and defeating Ganon. So he wakes up at roughly the beginning of spring and fights Ganon in late summer.


End file.
